Did eBay suspend my account for no reason?

Ecommerce tips

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Last update November 10, 2023

Overview

Lately, eBay has been dealing with many suspensions, due to voluntary or inadvertent policy violations. This can happen to the newcomers as well as to the most loyal users, if eBay rules and policies are not strictly followed.

It is understandable if we consider the fact that eBay does it just to protect its buyers, and especially its reputation.

eBay account suspended: reasons

Unlike other online marketplaces, eBay suspensions must be taken into great consideration, particularly because there is always a history leading to them.

Different types of eBay account suspensions

Depending on the seriousness of the issue, your account can be:

  1. Put on hold – this is a minor inconvenience, and it can happen if the payment method is out to date, or you must release a payment. You will be able to get back on track immediately.
  2. Restricted – normally restrictions are more serious, and this happens if sellers’ performance metrics are not met. Many users have been restricted due to having associated accounts.
    Some of them have been using different accounts for the purpose of avoiding selling limits.
    Your account can also get restricted if someone from your family (who lives with you, therefore has the same IP address) owns an account that has been suspended.
  3. Suspended – suspensions can happen only in extreme cases, and they can last 7, 10, or 30 days or, worst-case scenario, indefinitely!

While being put on hold or being restricted might happen more easily because one cannot know every rule eBay has, especially if you are new, being suspended is more critical.

In fact, depending on the seriousness of the facts, you may not be able to use eBay ever again.

Suspensions can happen when:

Selling prohibited and restricted items. eBay need to follow local restriction to provide a safe and legal service, that’s why several items are prohibited and can’t be sold, under penalty of exclusion from the marketplace.

  • Using offensive language, threatening and or hate speech (any kind of harassment, racist, sexual, defamatory, or hateful language).
  • Attempting to manipulate feedback or Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR).
  • Violating the Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRo), regarding intellectual property rights.
  • Being unable to resolve cases in the Resolution Centre.
  • Attempting to avoid eBay fees (e.g., buy or sell outside eBay).
  • Having a high transaction defect rate

While being suspended you won’t be able to normally use your eBay account, so for example you can’t bid or sell, leave feedbacks or even reply to your messages.

“Your eBay account has been suspended” email: real or fake?

It is important to understand if the email is an authentic one or if it is a fake one, made up for fraudulent purposes. You should always double-check the message section on eBay: in addition to the email, you should also get a notification on the site. If you did not get any message on eBay, do not open any link or attachment that you will find in the mail.

Attackers got better and better over time, and they are extremely smart. It is now very difficult to distinguish a fake email from a genuine and legitimate one.

eBay cares about its users so, to prevent being scammed, here are some important things to keep in mind:

  • eBay never asks to provide confidential information (especially credit card details)
  • You won’t receive links and/or suspicious attachments.
  • There will always be a copy of the email in the eBay Messages.

The only way to not fall into the scammers’ trap is to always doubt every unusual email.

Here is how to deal with hacked accounts.

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How to reinstate eBay account

Check your eBay Messages

The most important thing in these situations is to not lose your temper and not rush to call eBay. It’s quite understandable that this can be pretty upsetting, but the best thing to do is to gather all the information you have.

Go check your message section. As mentioned previously, eBay never suspends an account without warning you first. So, you might find some answers by reading the warnings sent to you.

Contact eBay

Sometimes the solution is to wait it out, but if you truly think that you’re innocent, you should immediately contact eBay. It is possible that eBay made a mistake, or you’ve been the victim of fraud, identity theft, or cybercrime. Remember that the person on the other end might as well have a bad day just like you, so remember to stay calm and be kind. Try to explain what happened and ask what you should do next.

Don’t pester eBay for reinstatement, this might result mean and you don’t want to stand in the way of finding a solution. By calling the customer’s support number, keep in mind to:

  • Gather all the information.
  • Keep eBay User ID, email associated with your account, and your case reference number at hand.
  • Ask for CSR’s name (consider the fact that your problem might be handled by a person who’s in training, so ask for a supervisor if the CSR doesn’t know how to help you).

Get reinstated

Getting back your eBay account can be quite difficult, but not impossible. If your account has been suspended indefinitely, you should arm yourself with patience: the reinstatement might take up to a year. In that case, the best thing to do is let a year pass before contacting eBay.

New reinstatement, new you

During the period of reinstatement, think about what had your account suspended and try to write down the dos and don’ts. This might actually help you not to get suspended in the future.

Undoubtedly, the only way to prevent suspensions is to educate yourself and the best way to do it is to assiduously check the seller updates and the eBay rules and policies. A word of advice: don’t create a stealth account. This might be a temporary solution, just like sweeping something under the rug. If you’ve been suspended on your main account, it might happen as well on the stealth account because you’d be using the same IP address so eBay would eventually find out. Follow the rules and you will be back in the eBay sellers’ community.

How to start selling again

If the suspension is definitive, having a backup of your eBay products could be a good strategy to be back on track as soon as possible. Nembol, for example, can be used to store your listings and quickly upload them to a new eBay account. How awesome is that?

And don’t forget that if eBay still doesn’t approve your readmission, this is not the end of your online business. Indeed, you should consider selling elsewhere while waiting.

Becoming a multichannel retailer will help you to grow sales and product visibility. Of course, by multiplying the number of channels to use, you will need to manage more accounts, increasing the burden, without considering that you will keep up with different channel policies.

Is Nembol a good fit for you?

Did you know that with Nembol you can easily bulk list your products across 14 different channels, keeping your inventory synced? As an eBay seller, you may consider expanding your business on Amazon, and Nembol will help you to do it effortlessly.

No worries: Nembol uses the official eBay APIs for Listing Softwares. The use of Nembol will not cause, in any way, a suspension!

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